Eclipse
by Meriwether
Summary: Alternate Reality. A “what if…” story about Rory’s life decisions and how they impact her future. (Post-Chilton)


**I do not own any of these characters**; I'm just borrowing them, purely for my own (and hopefully your) entertainment. This story will be taking a completely different path from the show, but I will try and stay true to the characters. I want to try and write something original, so the story may require a sort of openess to new things. I won't say anything plot-wise, but I will fill you in on some of the characters I plan on using: _Jess, Tristan, Paris, Jamie, Lane, Dave, Lorelai, Luke, Liz, Emily and Richard._ (Oh yeah, Luke and Lorelai have been dating for sometime now)

* * *

Chapter 1: Letting Go 

She sat in silence, staring into this dark abyss. It was like this a lot now, almost every night. She just sat there waiting, hoping he'd come back to her. She hugged her knees closer to her body, silently rocking herself back and forth, willing herself not to cry. Hours past and her body finally decided to surrender. Tears slowly fell from her eyes and she could feel the wind scorching her already burning cheeks.

_So this is how it feels to not believe…_

Grudgingly approaching her front door, she slowly reached for the handle and pulled herself inside. She sighed slightly, relieved to feel the warmth of her house coming back to her.

* * *

Tearing his eyes from the movie, Luke looked down to the beauty resting in his arms.

"Lore, did you hear that?"

"It's probably just Rory." Lorelai responded seemingly nonchalant, and continued to fix her gaze on the television screen.

Luke silently nodded and decided, for the sake of his own well being, not to bring up the dreaded subject. Rory had been acting off-kilter for a while now, ever since Jess left. He had been the one to give her the upsetting news that he fled to California. He wanted to comfort her, tell her everything would be all right, to ease her pain, but he couldn't bring himself to confront her. She needed space. He understands that, but it's no secret he's not her favorite person right now. She's blaming him for Jess leaving, he's almost sure of it. Hell, he blames himself. Rory is the closet thing he has to a daughter, and sometimes he forgets that he's not her father. It was bad enough when Jess left, but now he felt like two of the people he cares most about were torn from his life. And he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Gazing down to the woman in his arms again, he studied the expression on her face, obviously engrossed in the movie.

Little did he know, the movie was the last thing on Lorelai's mind. She knew right from the start Jess was nothing but trouble. Even now, a very small part of her felt that urge to say "I told you so!" With one look into those ice blue eyes though, she held nothing but sympathy for her daughter. It was the same thing every night. She stayed out for hours, just sitting on the bridge, waiting for him to come back to her. She hated seeing her like this; she hated seeing the pain dance in her eyes that she herself once had to experience. The worst part was, there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

* * *

Rory stumbled lazily on to her bed and kicked off her shoes. She lay momentarily motionless, trying to silence the thoughts in her head. It had been weeks since Jess had left. She was in denial for quite sometime though. She was _positive _he was coming back. He wouldn't leave without saying goodbye. He needed to get away; she understood that. Days to her graduation grew fewer, but she couldn't accept he was gone from her life.

_He's coming back. _

She desperately repeated to herself every second she got the chance. But as she stood up in front thousands of people and read her Valedictorian speech, she could feel her heart almost stop. She looked desperately around the sea of faces, trying to spot him.

_He wouldn't miss this. He has to be here. _

But the day slowly ended, and there was no sign of him. It had been a week since then and she was trying desperately to remain hopeful. She dreamt of him every night, sitting on the park bench, or lounging on the bridge.

Rory continued to stare at her ceiling and felt her body growing weaker. She debated on weather or not to change into her pajamas, or sleep how she is. As she slowly stood to remove her jacket, she felt a rush of uneasiness pass over her. Her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach and she fell to the ground, knocking her lamp off her desk. The loud crash was deafening to her ears, and realization dawned on her.

* * *

Hearing a loud crash coming from Rory's bedroom, Luke and Lorelai quickly shot each other a worried glance and rushed into her room.

Loralei quickly fell to her knees beside Rory and wrapped her arms around her. Rory was sobbing hysterically and the only sounds that were heard between the sobs were…

"He's not coming back… He's not coming back…"

Lorelai felt her heart rate quicken as she tried to decide what to do. She didn't want to make things worse then they were.

"Shhhh. Honey. It's okay."

Decided on the only thing natural, she ran her fingers soothingly through her daughter's hair and tried to gently calm her down.

"Mom, he's not coming back… is he?" Rory asked and locked her gaze on her mother.

Looking down into her daughter's tear-flooded eyes she felt a sharp pain stab into her stomach. She wanted to kill the bastard for treating her daughter this way.

"Honey, you need to let him go." Lorelai stiffened, waiting for her to crack at any moment.

"Let him go?" She mimicked… trying to grasp the words…

"Yes… Let him go…" Lorelai repeated slowly, waiting for her words to sink in.

"Let him go." She slowly let the words drop from her mouth, and wiped her eyes clean of her tears.

"Let him go…" She solemnly repeated again.

Finally breathing evenly, she dropped her head to her mother's shoulders and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Author's note:** Not my best work, I admit, but I just wanted to set the foundation for the story. Don't let this mediocrity discourage you from further chapters : ) Reviews are nice, but don't go too hard on me quite yet… 


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